Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach can no longer pump gas. Her arthritis gets in the way. She also can’t sweep her yard or fix the stuff that breaks in her house. These are all chores her late husband did. Here, she thinks about – and thanks – all the men who have stepped in to help her since her husband’s death.
More from Claudia Sternbach
I’ve managed five months without my late husband. I’m still weepy, but does moving on mean I need him less?
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach continues to chronicle her grief after her husband Michael’s February passing. Michael was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma cancer just weeks after he retired. He died two months later. Sternbach is now learning to build a different life than the one she and Michael had planned.
Katie Couric lost her husband to cancer – I’ve admired her for years and she is still teaching me
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach still remains shaky, five months after suddenly losing her husband to cancer. Here, she remembers the stunning 1998 death of NBC anchor Katie Couric’s husband, Jay Monahan, 42, and how graciously and privately Katie handled it. She’s trying to absorb the lessons.
Can I please speak to a manager? I want my husband and the life we had back
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach lost her husband of 40 years to cancer in February. The diagnosis was sudden – they learned he had cancer only in December. Now, she is adjusting to life on her own and doesn’t like it much.
When my wedding ring slipped off my finger and vanished, I felt I had lost my late husband all over again
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach can’t believe summer fruit is here and her beloved husband of 40 years is not. Michael died in February, two months after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Recently, she misplaced her wedding ring – the one he put on her finger just months before he died. Here, she writes of loss and longing and how unfair it is that time keeps moving forward as if nothing has changed.
Navigating loss: ‘Do I now live in the sad house on my block?’
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach continues to navigate her grief after losing Michael, her beloved husband of 40 years. Since his death, she has been inundated with flowers, food and love – reminders, she says, of how much Michael meant. She has also been plagued with thoughts of what is next. Should she change her life? Sell her house? Escape or embrace the memories?
How my World Market table showed me that a new life is possible as a widow
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach continues to chronicle her struggles as a widow. Here, she writes about the numbness in the days after her husband Michael’s death and how taking on a table-building project brought her solace.
I’m learning to live like a widow – and I do not like it
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach lost her beloved husband, Michael, on Feb. 25. In her first column since taking a break to grieve, she writes about the first days and months after he died, why she no longer can watch “Jeopardy!” and why books and piles of laundry give her solace in the night. She is chronicling her journey as a widow and sharing her questions as she tries to find a new normal.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Time to get flattened!
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach is a breast cancer survivor and reminds us why getting mammograms matters, even though she keeps putting hers off.
Our kids accept trans classmates without a problem — why can’t we all be so open?
“I believe listening to your child and honoring their feelings is the kindest and bravest and most loving thing to do,” Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach writes after hearing her 9-year-old grandson’s easy, matter-of-fact mention of a classmate with they/them pronouns. “The folks who are trying to take away the rights of trans people need to get educated.”

